Today, more than 120 world leaders are at the United Nations Headquarters for the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit, to discuss one of the most pressing issues of our times!

Presidents, prime-ministers and all sorts of authorities gathered together to share commitments and pledge to take real action to solve this climate chaos.

But to kick off the debate, and remind all global leaders why we gathered here today, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, from the Marshall Islands along with her beautiful family came to share some wise words filled with inspiration!

This was the message delivered by her today, which knocked all of the people at the General Assembly hall off their chairs, with a long and strong standing ovation!

I just hope that the leaders here will take on the words from Kathy, and deliver real, bold and ambition commitments and will walk the talk!

[EN] Around the world, people from all paths of life are gathering, organizing and taking the streets to put show global leaders we had enough!

We can no longer afford to passively wait and watch our homes flooding, crops disappearing and natural disasters becoming the norm, while they spend years discussing our future in air-conditioned rooms!

It is time to disrupt! And raise together to demand global leaders for real actions, instead of comforting words.

Check out the People’s Climate March website and learn about actions happening around your hood! And please, do get involved!!!! This is the greatest issue of our lifetimes and it gotta need all and each one of us to disrupt this climate chaos!

If you are not able to get out there, and join the over 2000 actions happening in over 160 countries. You must invest your time in learning more about the issue and informing your friends, your family and your community, a good start is the movie Disruption (by PF Pictures) just launched, which tells the story of the making of the march, as well as the global climate movement! (legendas em português)

I just landed in Bonn, for the 64th Annual United Nations Conference for Non-Governmental Organizations associated with the Department of Public Information, on the theme“Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens”.

I´m here to work as a rapporteur for UNFPA particularly trying to advocate for a greater youth participation as well as exploring the linkages with the ICPD mandate. I´m very excited about the next couple of days.

And since the conference works start only tomorrow.. I wanted to share this great article written by my friend Dominic Stucker together with Lisa Marika Jokivirta, that is super worth readying as well as very useful in our advocacy efforts!!!

By Lisa Marika Jokivirta, Doctoral Candidate, Finnish National Graduate School of Environmental Social Sciences, and DominicStucker, Coordinator, Sustainability Leaders Network

We were recently blown away by a young woman from Siberia who singlehandedly took on a group of white-haired experts on climate change. The group of scientists were lauding the use of GPS in monitoring land use change when this young woman politely raised her hand.

“But what use is the GPS to poorer rural communities? The reindeer herders of my native Sahka Republic already know their land. Why develop a dependency on yet another piece of technology, when it seems to me that there are more important development issues at hand?”

Silence around the table; one of those silences that speaks louder than words. Suddenly, this twenty-something year-old defies all the connotations that might come with her “youth” status. She is not apathetic, inexperienced or naïve. She has seen the direct impacts of climate change on her homeland and knows the finger has been pointed in the wrong direction for too long. She doesn’t belong to the almighty “old boys club,” but that is precisely her greatest asset. She also isn’t scared to take them on.

And this young woman from Siberia is not alone. She is part of a larger, global body of young people—students, graduates, researchers, educators and environmental activists between 18-25 years old—who are taking on the world.

Some are even younger. At 15, Mohamad Axam Maumoon of the Malidives was selected from among participants in the Children’s Climate Forum, organized by UNICEF and the City of Copenhagen to participate in the 2009 UN climate change negotiations. In this role, Axam was interviewed by radio host Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now!” Concerning the impacts of climate change on vulnerable countries, cultures and peoples, he pointedly asked listeners and negotiators: “On the basis that you know what you are doing is wrong, and you can see that the victim is begging for mercy … would you commit murder?” Reminiscent of then 12-year-old Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s impactful speech at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, Axam represents the first of “all generations to come” that she invoked.

If you think we should include young people for tokenistic purposes, think again. There is an unprecedented need to engage them and collaborate across generations for effective climate action. Here are five reasons why.

The numbers speak for themselves. There are more than 1.2 billion people under the age of 25. If they all formed a country, they would be the second largest one in the world. For those who ask why we should take on board their needs, experiences and views, we instead ask: How could we not? There is great power in numbers; and it will be necessary and beneficial to include young people in the mobilization efforts for effective climate change mitigation and adaptation. This is particularly true in the Global South. Almost 90 percent of the world’s young people live in poor countries, those least responsible for and most adversely impacted by climate change. The educational attainment of young people, their decisions about lifestyles, sexual behavior and childbearing, and the transmission of ecological values, knowledge and practices have profound effects on their own lives and on generations to come.

The green economy is largely in young people’s wallets. Young men and women constitute close to one-fifth of the world’s population and their combined purchasing power translates into significant market control. Youth in the U.S. spend or influence the spending of an estimated $300 billion per year, or one-third of all consumer expenses. It would be a mistake not to include young people in the design and implementation of sustainable lifestyles campaigns and awareness raising efforts. Beyond consumption, young people need to be encouraged to take up green jobs. This can simultaneously address unemployment and disenfranchisement among the large youth demographic, and turn linear production systems into sustainable cycles. The UN Environment Program estimates the global market for environmental products and services will double by 2020.

Science alone hasn’t been the solution. Young people and future generations have the most at stake in the climate policy debate. Until now, science-based arguments alone have not produced strong policies. Widespread appeal from young people could make policy-makers reframe their interests in the spirit of intergenerational responsibility and respond with more meaningful climate action. Data coupled with narrative—science with story—may help inspire sound climate policy. Youth represent and can articulate that story, a story that bridges into a future that many current policy-makers will never experience. In so doing, young professionals should not remain outside of decision-making processes but get involved in environmental governance.

Young professionals are a largely untapped resource. Globally, there is a largely untapped resource base of young professionals—highly educated students, educators, and environmental and social activists who want to get more involved. At Earth Charter International, the Costa Rica-based sustainability NGO where we both previously worked, the volunteer-based youth program quickly became the most active arm of the organization. Young people from around the world took initiative to translate policy documents, organize climate rallies, launch tree-planting programs and inspire other volunteers to act both online and on the ground—a diverse range of climate change action at multiple levels of impact. We see similar enthusiasm and talent among young professionals in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Education and Communication, where we volunteer as members of the Young Professionals Leadership Team.

They still think outside the box. Perhaps the greatest power of young people is their tendency towards creativity, innovative thinking and not simply accepting older ideas. Like adults, not all young people are destined or even interested in becoming sustainability leaders. But today’s youth are perhaps the most technologically savvy, socially connected group in history; and their power to envision a sustainable world, identify high leverage strategies, mobilize individuals and affect positive change should not be underestimated. The point is not to train young people to work within the system. The challenge is to open up new spaces for them to share their unique perspectives and transform the systems they have inherited.

According to Albert Einstein, “No problem can be solved by the same level of thinking that created it.” Perhaps this can be extended to question why the “old boys club” that is largely responsible for our present socio-environmental crises remains the dominant voice at the climate policy table. Opportunity lies in cultivating young people’s abilities to engage in systems thinking and analysis, coupled with visioning new ways of being and doing that bring balance to our relationships with one another and our environment. We must give each other permission to be creative and experiment, make mistakes and learn our way together into a sustainable future.

The good news is many organizations, corporations and governments are waking up to the potential of young people to contribute to climate action. Much work, however, remains. The rights and decision-making capacities of young people remain largely unrecognized and they are often denied participation in (particularly higher-level) governance processes where their unique perspectives and innovative ideas could help shape more effective policies.

This is a defining moment, a defining opportunity. We encourage you to ask yourself what your organization is doing to engage young people in climate change action. What opportunities might exist for increasing youth engagement and intergenerational partnership?

Can you believe that it’s 2011 and although all evidences prove Climate Change is happening and is real, there are still a bunch of sceptics making noise and trying to claim it is not… Common guys, get real!

As most people, I’m not a Climate Scientist and I might not be able to understand fully all the details of every scientific Climate reports daily published by respected research centres and universities from around the world. But exactly because of that, I don’t think I have any credibility to go around and tell they are wrong!

Why is that difficult to get decision makers to listen to the advice of capable qualified scientists who actually understand the stuff we are talking about!?

But if you still feel sceptical, and think it’s because Climate science is far too complicated to be understood.

This group of Australian scientists are breaking it simple for us and our decision makers!

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::: João Felipe Scarpelini :::

[EN] I'm a full-time dreamer and activist! I engage with passionate and creative people to create tools, opportunities and capacity that empower individuals and their communities to be the change they want to see in the world!

About me…

I'm a full-time dreamer and activist! I engage with passionate and creative people to create tools, opportunities and capacity that empower individuals and their communities to be the change they want to see in the world!